Lion launches event exclusive Australia Day brew

Food and beverage manufacturer Lion and travelling Australian beer celebrity The Beer Pilgrim have joined forces to create a one-off, limited edition porter beer called ‘The First Brew’ to celebrate Australia Day 2014.

The brew, which will be available exclusively for Australia Day as a free tasting at Sydney’s Bar 100 at the Rocks on Australia Day from 6pm to 8pm, was created by Tim Charody, The Beer Pilgrim, and Lion’s Head Brewer, Peter David.

Mr David said that while it was important to create a porter style beer that was a “nod to the past”, it was also important to add a “modern twist” to the recipe to cater for a modern palate.

“With the Aussie climate in mind, The First Brew is lighter and mellower than the heavy English porter recipe originally enjoyed in the early 18th century, but still uses the same natural ingredients,” Mr David said. “We have used English-style malts like Crystal and Roast to give this porter a moderate character of chocolate and coffee, which is nicely balanced with the citrus-notes of New World Citra hops,” he said.

Lion said the brew was created following a trip taken by Mr Charody to “discover the story behind Australia’s first beer”. The Company said that Mr Charody discovered that beer was used to toast the colony in 1788.

“Once we started digging around, we discovered that beer actually played a pretty important role on ships during the time of the First Fleet and Captain Cook’s voyages,” Mr Charody said. “Aside from being a refreshing beverage, scurvy was the scourge of the sea for sailors at this time, so they were given a ration of spruce beer as it was incorrectly believed to help combat the sickness,” he said.

It was discovered later that the presence of Vitamin C in diets was determined as the preventative measure to scurvy, so the inclusion of citrus hops in The First Brew “is a nod to this thinking”, according to Lion.

The Beer Pilgrim’s research

On his recent journey to discover the origins of beer in Australia, Lion said Mr Charody sought out publicans and brewers in Sydney and travelled to the UK to where the First Fleet set sail, to discover the source of the first Australian beer.

“While getting to the bottom of beer’s amazing Australian story, I was surprised to discover that beer is still sourced from the same four natural ingredients — water, hops, yeast and barley — the very same ones that would have been used to brew the beer that Captain Phillip first drank on our fair shores,” Mr Charody said.

The First Brew is exclusive for Australia Day, and will be available to consumers (aged 18 and over) for a free tasting at Sydney’s Bar 100 at the Rocks on 26 January 2014 from 6pm to 8pm.